CHANDIGARH: Educationist, social worker and philanthropist, Baba Iqbal Singh, who was recently conferred Padma Shri, died on Saturday. He was 96. Confirming this, Dr Davinder Singh, secretary of the Kalgidhar Trust at Baru Sahib, said, “Last month, he was admitted and was under treatment at Fortis hospital in Mohali. He had heart issues and age-related problems.
Doctors told us yesterday there was no hope. So we brought him back to Baru Sahib in an ambulance and he was on ventilator support. He died this afternoon. He will be cremated on Sunday at Baru Sahib .”
Singh had retired as Director of Agriculture of the Himachal Pradesh government in 1986. He then set up a school in Baru Sahib with only five students.
The Kalgidhar Trust at Baru Sahib was started by him and he had been active in social work on rural education, drug de-addiction and women empowerment since. Davinder lauded the work of the departed soul. “Under his guidance, the trust had been running 129 Akal Academies and two universities, besides a charitable hospital and two de-addiction centers.
In the field of women empowerment, underprivileged rural girls are given free teacher training. Thousands of underprivileged rural children are provided free or subsidised education in these schools. And they have risen in the echelons of society.”
Singh had already been conferred the title of Shiromani Panth Ratan — the highest honour awarded by one of the Takhts to an individual for exceptional and meritorious services rendered to the Sikh cause. Also, IIM Ahmedabad chose Akal Academies for a case study, which eventually won the Philip Thomas Memorial Award.